Model Editor

Overview

Open the Model Editor

On the Edit menu, go to Model Editor, or hit Ctrl+M to open the editor.

Graphical user interface

The editor is composed of the following 2 areas:

The Palette on the left where you can select links and insert them into
the scene to build the model.

The 3D View on the right where you can see a preview of your model and
interact with it to edit its properties and create joints between links.

The GUI tools on the top toolbar can be used to manipulate joints and links in
the 3D View.

Add Links

Add simple shapes

The model editor has three simple primitive geometries that the user can insert
into the 3D view to make a link of the model.

On the Palette, click on the box, sphere, or cylinder icon under
Simple Shapes.

Move your mouse cursor over the 3D view to see the visual appear, and
click/release anywhere to add it to the model.

Tip: You can press Esc to cancel adding the current
link attached to the mouse cursor.

Add meshes

To add a custom mesh,

Click on the Add button under Custom Shapes, which pops up a dialog
that lets you find the mesh you want to add.

Click on Browse button and use the file browser to find the mesh file
on your local machine. If you know the path of the mesh file, you can enter it
directly in the text field box next to the Browse button. Note Gazebo
currently only supports importing COLLADA (dae), STereoLithography (stl),
and Scalable Vector Graphics (svg) files.

Click Import to load the mesh file. Then, add it to the 3D view.

Create Joints

The model editor supports creating several types of joints between links in the
model being edited. To create a joint:

Click on the joint icon on the tool bar. This defaults to a revolute
joint which you can edit its type later. Alternatively, click on the
small arrow at the bottom right corner of the joint icon to choose a specific
joint type.

Once the joint type is selected, move your mouse over the link you wish to
create a joint for to see it being highlighted and click on it. This link
will be the parent link of the joint.

Next, move your mouse to the link which you would like to be the child link
of the joint. Click on it to finalize the joint creation process and see a
colored line connecting the two links and a joint visual attached
to the child link.

Tip: You can press Esc to cancel the joint creation process.

The line representing the joint is color-coded. Play around with different
joint types to see the colors.

The joint visual consists of RGB axes which help to give an idea of the
coordinate frame of the joint. The yellow arrow indicates the primary axis of
the joint. For example, in the case of a revolute joint, this is the axis of
rotation.

Edit your model

Note: Be careful when editing your model; the editor currently has no option to undo your actions.

Tip: All measurements are in meters.

Edit links

The model editor supports editing properties of a link which you would
also find in its SDF.

Note: Gazebo 6 supports editing
links, visuals, and collisions. The ability to edit sensors and
plugins are to be implemented in later versions.

To edit a link's properties: Double-click on the link or right click and select
Open Link Inspector. A dialog window will appear which contains
Link, Visual, and Collision property tabs.

As an example, try changing the link pose and visual colors. Click on Apply
to see the changes reflected in the 3D view. Once you are done, click on
OK to close the inspector.

Edit joints

As mentioned earlier, joint properties can also be edited. These are properties
that you would find in the joint SDF.

To edit a joint: Double-click on the line connecting the links or right click
on it and select Open Joint Inspector. The joint inspector will appear.

As an example, try changing the joint pose and joint type. Click on Apply
to see the changes reflected in the 3D view. Once you are done, click on
OK to close the inspector.